


ten words

by helsinkibaby



Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Chance Meeting, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21899488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: A chance meeting leads to an unexpected result.
Relationships: Kristen Chazal/Jubal Valentine
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	ten words

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by people on tumblr wanting to know more about Kristen’s family. And in case you’re wondering, I’m picturing Nichelle Nicholls as grandma!

Looking back, the day didn’t start out in any way extraordinary. No, on the contrary, it was a normal midweek morning where Kristen met her grandmother for breakfast, the kind of morning that came along every couple of weeks. Always Grandma’s suggestion because it gave her an excuse to come into the city, always Grandma’s treat because God forbid Kristen should ever dip her hand into her pocket to reciprocate - it had been welcome as a struggling student, a little bit less so now she was an actual working FBI agent, but then again, New York City was expensive and every little helped. Besides, she loved catching up with her grandmother, hearing all the family news and gossip told as only Grandma could and considering some of the days she had on the job, she needed all the levity she could get. 

They were midway through their meal when she realised that tales of her cousin’s toddler’s attempts at walking and the attendant damage to her cousin’s house and sanity might not be the only explanation for Grandma’s suddenly twinkling eyes. There was something familiar about the glint Kristen saw there, something about the smile on Grandma’s lips that made the hairs on the back of Kristen’s neck stand up. Grandma leaning across the table and whispering conspiratorially was actually pretty redundant. 

“Don’t look, but there is a very handsome man at the counter who keeps looking over here. And much as I’d love to take credit, I don’t think he’s looking at me.” 

Kristen bit her lip and ducked her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose with two fingers. She’d been on the receiving end of some of her grandmother’s matchmaking schemes before. Some had gone well, others... well, not so much would be putting it mildly. “Grandma, please don’t start.” 

“Oh, my dear, I’m not.” Grandma sounded highly amused. “In fact, I don’t think I’ll have to.” That could only mean one thing and Kristen dropped her hand to see her grandmother looking delighted. “Look lively now.” 

Before Kristen could say anything, a shadow fell across the table, one that was accompanied by a familiar voice. “Kristen.” Her grandmother blinked in surprise and Kristen looked up into the smiling face of Jubal Valentine. She felt her shoulders start to relax, at least until she noticed her grandmother’s narrowed eyes, how they were flitting between her and Jubal like a spectator at a tennis match. Once Jubal looked at her though, Grandma was suddenly all smiles. Of course she was. “I take it this must be your younger sister?” 

Kristen didn’t even try to hide her rolling eyes. Trust Jubal to turn the charm up to eleven. “Jubal, this is my grandmother, Amelia Chazal. Grandma, this is Jubal Valentine... we work together.” 

The look of fake surprise and shock on Jubal’s face didn’t fool anyone. “Mrs Chazal, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “And I have to tell you... your granddaughter is one of the best agents I’ve ever worked with.” 

Kristen felt her cheeks grow warmer at the praise and Grandma gave her a fond smile. “Of course she is.” She extended her hand for Jubal to shake with a smile that was genuine but eyes that were suddenly decidedly flinty. “You’re very charming, young man,” she said and Jubal shot Kristen a quick glance, a quicker smile. “Tell me, when you were so busy admiring my granddaughter, did you encourage her to go into the field or did you try to talk her out of it?” 

Just like that, Kristen was pushing a finger against the bridge of her nose. “Oh my god, Grandma...” 

Her grandmother’s eyes were wide and innocent. “It’s just a question, dear...”

“It’s not my place to tell Kristen what she can and can’t do.” Jubal’s voice was calm and quiet but the effect on Kristen was like he’d shouted the words. Her pulse quickened ever so slightly, her stomach flipping pleasantly. The effect only intensified when she looked up at Jubal, her eyes meeting his. The little smile playing around his lips, the amused glint in his eyes... well, it had her agreeing with her grandmother’s statement about him being a handsome man. Not that it was the first time she’d thought that, and she pushed it away quickly. “But I will say that Kristen can do anything she puts her mind to... and I have every confidence in her abilities.” 

There was a moment of silence then, one where Kristen half expected her face to spontaneously combust. Or for her grandmother to start listing wedding venues, which would easily do the same job. It didn't get any better when her grandmother's smile grew to Cheshire Cat proportions. "Correct answer, Mr Valentine." 

"Jubal, please." Her grandmother might have missed it, but Kristen caught the sudden flash of relief in Jubal's eyes loud and clear. She realised that, for a second there he'd actually been worried that he might have put his foot in it. 

"Amelia." Grandma fairly beamed up at him. "Would you like to join us, Jubal?"

Kristen knew her eyebrows shot up at that but Jubal held up a hand quickly and shook his head. "I couldn't intrude. Besides..." He inclined his head towards the door, held up the coffee cup in his left hand. "I have some paperwork to catch up on... the price of power." He affected a long suffering sigh. "Kris, I'll see you later. It was nice to meet you, Amelia." 

"Bye." Kristen watched him go and when she turned her gaze back to her grandmother, she was holding her cup to her lips without drinking from it, quite literally ready to sip some tea. Her eyes danced over the rim of the cup while Kristen's narrowed. "What are you thinking?"

"What a nice young man he is." Grandma didn't blink. "And how you obviously hate to see him going but you love to watch him leave."

Kristen was very glad she wasn't holding anything in her hands. It likely would have dropped, right along with her jaw. "Grandma, I work with Jubal. He's the second in command of my unit. There are rules..." 

"Rules." Grandma sniffed disdainfully. "Since when does that mean that you can't admire a perfectly fine specimen of a man? And if it does, then I say screw the rules." She leaned in closer. "Literally." 

"Oh my god." Kristen put her head in her hands and prayed for deliverance. Or for Grandma to suddenly lose her voice. "I don't need to hear this, Grandma." 

"Because I'm giving you ideas or because you already have them?" Before Kristen could reply, Grandma did it for her. "Oh, don't worry, I already know the answer." She took another sip of her tea, laid the cup back down daintily. "Now, eat your breakfast... you've got a long day ahead of you and an empty sack won't stand." 

Knowing how stubborn her grandmother could be, Kristen concentrated on her breakfast and did as she was told. 

*

“Hey, Kris.” She’d barely had time to take off her jacket before Jubal was at her side, a smile curving his lips. “Good breakfast?” 

Kristen grinned in response. “Very, thank you. And thank you for coming over... Grandma was thrilled to meet someone I work with.” 

Jubal quirked an eyebrow. “There I thought you’d be mad at me for gatecrashing your breakfast date.” 

He was teasing, she knew, so she answered in kind. “Grandma loves meeting new people. She’s eighty five years old and she hates being idle. This afternoon, she’s got her weekly yoga class.” She frowned, genuinely and not for effect. “Or ballroom dancing, I get confused.” 

Jubal’s eyes were wide, his grin just as wide. “She keeps busy then.”

Kristen chuckled. “I’m lucky she could fit me in for breakfast. Grandma is quite the social butterfly.” She decided against mentioning how her grandmother also routinely tried to set her up on dates, despairing of her single status. She had to keep some dignity after all. 

Jubal rubbed a hand over his chin, looking thoughtful. “I’m regretting not taking her up on the offer to stay and talk to her some more.“ 

Grandma would have loved that too. Kristen, knowing how outrageous her grandmother could be under the guise of “kooky octogenarian”, was a good deal less sanguine about that prospect. “I’m sure she would have loved to tell you all about marching with Doctor King,” she said and she enjoyed the way Jubal’s face dropped with surprise. 

“Definitely regretting paperwork.” 

The words were out of Kristen’s mouth before she had time to think about them. “She was quite taken with you, actually. If you’re into older women, I think I could fix you up.” 

Jubal chuckled, lips quirking, cheeks turning faintly pink. Kristen thought it looked adorable for just a second before she pushed the thought far far away. “Flattering as that is,” Jubal told her, a look on his face that was faintly... regretful? “I’m pretty sure that Amelia is way out of my league... just like all Chazal women.” 

Not for the first time that day, Kristen felt her jaw drop ever so slightly, felt the shock of his words reverberate through her body. She knew she should say something, anything, in response but her mouth wouldn’t co-operate and all she could do was stare at Jubal. For his part, he seemed equally lost for words, a sight she wasn’t used to seeing, his shoulders rising and falling in a little shrug, his eyebrows mirroring the action. His eyes stayed locked with hers and for a second she thought he was going to say something...

“Kristen, Brad Jacobs is in his office for the next hour.” Stuart walked by them, not slowing his gait one whit as he went to his desk, grabbing his gun and jacket. “We gotta go.” 

Knowing that they’d been trying to catch this guy for most of the last two shifts, Kristen nodded, reaching blindly for her credentials, even as she came up with a dozen inventive ways she could kill her partner and not get caught. Her voice recovered enough to say “Be right there,” and if Stuart noticed anything untoward, he didn’t mention it. 

But Kristen swore she could feel Jubal’s eyes on her back until she turned the corner and vanished from sight. 

As the day wore on, Kristen did all the things that she was supposed to do. Interrogated Brad Jacobs with Stuart, even managing to catch the man - a slippery slimy weasel that she’d hated on sight - in a couple of lies. That earned her an impressed glance from her partner, but he looked even more impressed when Kristen used her analyst skills on some of computer records that Jacobs arrogantly - and, it turned out, foolishly - gave them full access to. That brought about a couple of hours of them pounding the pavement, chasing down yet more leads, and they were both more than ready to call it a day when it came to clocking off time. 

But all day, Jubal's words were running through her mind. 

"Way out of my league... just like all Chazal women." 

Because it was one thing for him to stop by her table when he met her in a coffee shop, to talk to her in the office, all smiling eyes and gentle tones, so far removed from his usual JOC voice that it was sometimes hard to believe it was the same man. It was one thing for him to be kind and friendly and charming to her grandmother, because that was just the kind of man he was. 

But it was quite another for him to say something like that. 

And not because it was unwelcome. Quite the opposite in fact, as her grandmother had so astutely pointed out. The fact of the matter was that Kristen had been nursing something of an attraction to Jubal since they'd first starting working together. She'd just become accustomed to pushing it away, ignoring it and pretending that it wasn't there. Which when the JOC was hopping and they were in the middle of a case was quite easy. Days like that, she barely had time to realise she was hungry when she hadn't eaten for hours, let alone think about her feelings. When she did think about it, she was able to admit that they were always there, white noise in the background, but she was able to accept that friendship was the most that it would ever be, and she could live with that. 

All it had taken was ten words from him to blow that ability to smithereens. 

And because she was her grandmother's granddaughter, Kristen wasn't content to leave it at that. 

"Hey, can I have a word?" Jubal blinked at her, a faint line appearing between his eyebrows, but he nodded.

"Go for it."

"Not here." Kristen turned on her heel, expecting him to follow her. She heard his footsteps behind her as she led the way down the hall towards one of the interrogation rooms, empty now, and she ducked into first one, knowing they wouldn't be disturbed there. She waited until Jubal closed the door behind him before she turned to face him and she didn't waste any time. "What did you mean earlier?" 

To his credit, he didn't try to dissemble, or bullshit her in any way, shape or form. Instead, his left hand went to his hip while his right massaged his forehead. "I apologise," he said straight away, looking at the ground, not at her. "What I said was inappropriate... as your co-worker, as ASAC, I shouldn't have said it and you have every right to go to-"

"Jubal." She let every ounce of impatience she was feeling bleed into her voice. "What did you mean?" 

This time, Jubal's tongue snaked out to wet his lips as he looked at the ceiling. He still wasn't looking at her, Kristen noted. "I overspoke," he said again, answering her question without really answering it. "My thoughts got away from me and I said something I shouldn't have said. It won't happen again." 

"You have thoughts about me?" 

It seemed like a decent place to start to Kristen, but Jubal actually looked pained. "Kris..."

"Do you understand why you can't say things like that to me?" She took a step towards him, he took one away from her, swallowing hard, holding up his hand as if he was afraid she was going to attack him and he was trying to ward her off. 

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Again, I..."

"Jubal, I don't want an apology." She took another step towards him, barely managing to repress a grin as he backed into the wall, nowhere left for him to go. Closing the gap, she laid her hands on his chest, looking up into his eyes unblinking. She held his gaze for a long moment, long enough for a little tension to leave his shoulders, for his lips to turn up and his hands to come to rest on her hips. "Do you know what I want?" 

That led to an honest to God grin. "I'm getting an idea." 

She grinned too, rising up on her tiptoes and bringing her lips to his, intending it to be a quick kiss, a promise of more. 

That did not happen. 

Because the second their lips met, it was like a fuse igniting, heat zipping along every nerve ending in her body as he pulled her close to him, opening his mouth to hers, lifting her off her feet as she wrapped her arms around his neck. So lost in the kiss was she that she hadn't even registered that had happened until her back impacted with the wall with enough force to shock her back to reality. She broke the kiss with a gasp, her breath coming in short, sharp pants, Jubal's the exact same as he rested his forehead against hers. 

“We need to talk about this.” Even accounting for the noise of the JOC, his voice seemed several octaves lower than she’d ever heard it. She liked it. “Not here.” Kristen bit her lip as she nodded, surprised by the noise that he made right before he kissed her again. “Your place,” he said when he pulled back. “I’ll follow you.” 

Contrary to his words, they did not talk when they got back to her place. 

Not at first anyway. 

Talking came later, when a trail of clothes marked the path from her front door to her bed, after their hands and lips had explored every inch of the other’s body. Talking came when her body was pressed against his, her head on his shoulder, his fingertips tracing idle patterns up and down her spine. 

“I definitely should have introduced you to my grandmother sooner.” 

He laughed aloud at that, a full bodied chuckle that made his chest shake under her cheek. “I would never disagree with you,” he told her. “Especially when you’re right.”

She tilted her head just enough that she could look up into his eyes. “You never answered my question.” When he frowned, she prompted, “You have thoughts about me?” 

Another laugh, quieter this time. “First of all, I believe I did answer your question.” His hand drifted lower, down past the small of her back, gentle, almost teasing. “Just not in words.” He shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t lying on. “But since you ask... yes. Many thoughts. Many times.” 

Kristin didn’t need to have attended the FBI Academy to know what the follow up question was. “How long?” 

Jubal wrinkled his nose. “If I say from day one, will that make me sound sad and pathetic?” Kristen must have done a poor job of hiding her surprise because his grin turned rueful. “Yeah... that’s what I thought. Still, it’s true. The first day you walked into the JOC, I was pretty much a goner.” 

“Why didn’t you ever-”

“Say anything?” His hand stilled on her back. “You’re the analyst, you tell me.” 

She didn’t have to; she knew them all. They were the same reasons she’d pushed her own thoughts away - the job, the age difference, the minefield this could all become. Ducking her head, she pressed a kiss to his chest, a wordless acknowledgement that had him sucking in a sharp breath. “But now that you have said something...” She let her voice trail off, lifted her head and raised herself up a little to see him better. 

He smiled, touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “Now that I have said something... I don’t want to go back.” Just as she was grinning at that, he cocked his head to the side. “Unless you were serious about me having a chance with Amelia, that is.” He stopped talking when she swatted his chest, began laughing instead and she joined in. Not for long though, not when he drew her lips to his and kissed her gently, winding the fingers of one hand through her hair as the other lingered around the small of her back. 

When he pulled back, it was hard to catch her breath for a moment. It got even harder when he rolled them so that she was staring up at him, his eyes dark and serious as he stared down at her. “I have to ask... I mean, I have a pretty good idea... but just in case...”

She read him as easily as she’d ever read him when they were working together. “I don’t want to go back either,” she said and his serious expression transformed into a smile. 

“Good,” he said before kissing her again and then words didn’t matter any more.


End file.
